Vincenzo Nibali is driving. Trying to follow the dots of his journeys, it is perfectly clear that the Sicilian is really at his best. Recent times have been particularly hectic, with the Giro d’Italia starting, the 100 days until the start of the Tour, various inaugurations and probably the premiere of the documentary film about his beginnings, filmed in Messina among his childhood friends.
At the Giro with Vegni
This year’s Giro d’Italia will be decided either he will probably hang the end sign on the climb that was the beginning for him: Monte Grappa. He went down the hill first and launched himself like a fury into the descent towards Asolo. It was 2010, the Giro still had to face the Zoncolan and the Mortirolo, but Vincenzo’s first stage victory came. And so it is that after a few steps into the present, it’s simple and fantastic to slip into the past, remembering that 25-year-old boy, who looked out of the grown-ups’ door and held their gaze and pace.
«Let’s see what Pogacar gets up to at the Giro – he says – the first days are not exactly simple things. You have to be ready and then have a condition to carry forward to the end. I will follow you in installments. I have renewed my collaboration with RCS, so on some occasions I will be alongside Vegni and also others. Mauro’s role as director is very important and perhaps in some ways underestimated by those outside. I had the opportunity to follow some stages with him and you realize the work that goes into it. The of him and of the whole group that works for security. The first time I saw it, I admitted that I didn’t expect there to be so much effort behind it.
«The athlete thinks about running and winning, he has no idea of everything else. I proposed having a meeting just with the runners, to explain how the relays move. It could be done when they come for the presentation of the teams. Maybe you waste an extra hour, but in terms of security you would be giving them very valuable information. I went by car with Longo Borghini to see the first parts of the road, to fix apparently banal details: the lines, the barriers, the signs. To mark things that perhaps had not been noted during the first reconnaissance and which can be seen better when the road is closed and without cars. Or the most dangerous final finishes.”
Speaking of high-voltage finals, we return to Monte Grappa and the nosedive into Bassano del Grappa. You arrived further ahead, in Asolo, but the slope is the same…
My first victory at the Giro d’Italia. It was a stage I was aiming for. The day before, even at the table, I had declared it. Laughing and joking, I said to Ivan: «Tomorrow, when we get up there at the top, on the way down, get out of the way because I’ll attack!». He was a little annoyed, he wasn’t funny about it, but I have to be honest beyond the jokes: he gave me a good hand in winning that stage. I was a young man who wanted to immediately dot the i’s, but I learned a lot from him.
It was the famous Tour of the Escape of L’Aquila, for which you had to shoot every single day…
I was strong in that Giro d’Italia. I had essentially followed the same approach path as Ivan Basso, with the exception of Romandie. I didn’t have to do the Giro, it was up to Pellizotti. After Liège I went to Sicily and I had, so to speak, my ears down because I hadn’t done very well in Belgium. I suffered from allergies and I remember struggling to breathe. I felt strange, a little weak. I remember that one day I got the call, I hadn’t been down for less than a week. Zanatta called me and told me that they had thought about taking me to the Giro d’Italia. He had spoken with Slongo (the trainer who followed him for almost his entire career, ed.) and having done the same program as Basso, they were sure I had what it took.
And you?
I was honestly a little dubious. The 2010 Giro started from Holland and it rained the whole time up there and this changed my life. I started to feel like a different person. With the rain all the pollen had lowered and day after day I began to feel better. In fact, I went well straight away, strong from the first stages. It’s the same Giro in which I took the pink jersey in the team time trial in Cuneo, under a heavy downpour, and lost it in the mud of Montalcino. When we arrived at Monte Grappa, Arroyo had the pink jersey and had taken it from L’Aquila. We still had to make up seven minutes for him.
Did you know Grappa? Have you ever put wheels on it?
No, it was the first time. I had done some pieces of it in previous years when I was in those areas trainingbut I had never reached the top and obviously in the race it was a completely different matter.
What do you remember about that day?
Those from Team Sky, who were in their first year, took it hard: I remember Wiggins was there too. Immediately afterwards, however, they slowed down a bit and so on from the middle onwards we took over the reins of the race. We started shooting with the usual uphill action protocol. So there was first Kieserlowski, then Agnoli, then Sylvester Szmyd who was the last. When he finished, I saw that there were only a few of us left. Until in the last bit, when we were right at the top, we realized that Cadel Evans (one of Basso’s most dangerous opponents, ed.) had climbed the hill slightly behind. As once at the top, I went down the hill with Basso, took the descent and left.
Was that the pattern you had talked about at dinner the night before?
Exactly, though halfway down the descent I got a bit of cramps. There was a little bit where you had to pedal again (from Ponte San Lorenzo to Il Pianaro, ed.) and your legs were beating. But it was the way to gradually restart them and make them turn slowly, the cramps went away. I did the last part of the descent and then the last 7-8 kilometers to the finish line. I arrived 23 seconds ahead, I think.
If you think about it now with all the career you’ve had since, does that day still remain important?
It was important, because I went to the Giro thinking of trying to win some stages, I didn’t have any goals of making the classification. For that there was Ivan Basso, I had already done a few Giros and that year I should have done the Tour de France, but I exchanged it for the Giro d’Italia. My whole season was turned upside down. I came third in the Giro and then went to the Vuelta, which I won: my first great Giro. So the day in Asolo was an important step, the first victory, the turning point of his career. That year I had it in my head to set the bar higher and higher…
How do you see a climb like Grappa in today’s group?
Is always a climb that commands respect and if it is done hard, it hurts a lot. The first part of the descent is also quite challenging. When I did it, it was wet too. It’s narrow, the asphalt was slippery at the top. It’s a stage that if someone decides to make it strong from bottom to top, they do damage. Obviously with the help of the team, not alone…
What do you remember of the last meters: when you are there do you hear the speaker shouting your name? Do you get goosebumps?
You hear the roar of the people, yes. However, you get goosebumps, the real ones, when you pedal at the top of the mountain passes in the middle of those two wings of crowd, hoping that everything goes well. There are people cheering you on and shouting at you, that for me has always been the height of adrenaline. That day there weren’t many people up there at the top, perhaps also because it was raining, but… at the arrival of Asolo there was a sea of fans: I really remember this, in Asolo there are always people. The next day I tried to enter the village, but I couldn’t because I was… asphalted by the fans (laughs, ed.). Then I have always had a good relationship with that city.
How come?
Why I also won an Italian junior championship there. People also remembered that little boy in the tricolor shirt. I had a good time in Veneto, since I went racing with Fassa Bortolo and then with Liquigas.
See you at the Giro, then?
Certain. I do the first three stages, then I go to Genoa because they name a cycle path after Michele Scarponi. Then she will return later, perhaps in some nearby stages and then for the grand finale. I’m not in Livigno, but I think I’ll go up the next day to rest. In the meantime my documentary film is also coming out and I don’t know if they want to have a first viewing that very day.
Is it true that you shot it all in Sicily?
All down, exactly. It was filmed by Marco Spagnoli, who has also made docufilms on Franco Battiato, Pino Daniele, Sofia Loren and Dino Zoff. Mine will be focused on the origins, the places where I started. There are a few stories from the family, we went to see the town where my parents grew up. There are a few of my friends, some stories from my cousin Cosimo and those who managed to come. Carlo Franceschi couldn’t due to the distance, however Malucchi brought up memories concerning his father. I don’t know yet where it will be broadcast, but the production is partly by the Sicily Region and partly by RAI. Let’s see when the premiere will be. In the meantime, see you in Turin…
